Outreach and Enrollment

Family planning safety-net providers play a key role in educating and enrolling patients and community members in health coverage available under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Educating uninsured patients about how to obtain health coverage is important for family planning providers because having more patients with insurance broadens revenue streams, thereby making health centers more sustainable. Given that many family planning providers are familiar with providing enrollment services support to their patients, they are uniquely positions to assist with ACA enrollment as well.

The results are tremendous: The US Department of Health and Human Services reports that nearly 18 million individuals have gained health coverage since ACA implementation. Over 55 million women are also benefiting from preventive services coverage, including well-woman exams with no out-of-pocket costs. In 2015, for the first time since the US Department of Health and Human Services began collecting health insurance information for their Family Planning Annual Report, a majority of Title X patients have health insurance. However, here is still a great deal of work to do. As a safety-net program, the levels of uninsured patients in the Title X network will likely remain higher than levels of uninsured individuals at state and national levels, but health centers must continue the important work of educating patients about their health coverage options so those who are eligible can enroll.